Four year old girl gets ready for special trip

PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - A special surprise today for a little girl who's been through some tough times.

Just before Christmas 4-year old Alice Denecker finished up a long regiment of treatment for stage four cancer. To brighten her life a bit the Make A Wish foundation is sending Alice and her family to Walt Disney World. But the foundation didn't stop there.

Today Alice and her classmates celebrated a Wish party at the Longfellow School in Portland.It featured Pizza, Cake and two very special guests, Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother. They read her favorite story Rapunzel and they sang to her in preparation for her magical trip.

The last year has been a rough one for little Alice complete with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. But now things are looking up.

"She's been through pretty much any kind of treatment you can imagine. She's had it all and as of December her treatment is through and she is disease free", said her dad Shawn Denecker.

That is the best news her family could hope for. The trip to Disney, the family's first, is just icing on the cake.

The Make A Wish foundation grants the wishes of about 75 sick children in Maine each year. The wishes allow children to be a kid at a time when many of them are dealing with some difficult grown up issues.

"They've had doctors telling them what they can and can not do for months maybe even years and then Make a Wish comes in and it's completely different for them because all of a sudden it's let's talk about all the things you can do and let's start dreaming and let's start having fun", said Make A Wish's Lisa Gleeson.

Throughout her special day Alice appeared to be overwhelmed by all of the attention, which surprised her dad. That's because Alice has been in the spotlight before lighting Portland's Christmas tree and being the center of attention at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital Halloween party. Her Shyness did give way to a slight smile by the time the ice cream cake came around.